Raymond Ford wants rematch with Aaron Perez after disappointing draw

Just a few days after saying he felt he was the best prospect in boxing, Matchroom featherweight Ray Ford suffered a surprising setback on Saturday’s Estrada-Chocolatito 2 card in Dallas, going to an eight-round draw against unheralded — but unbeaten — Aaron Perez.

The 21-year-old Ford (8-0-1, 4 KO) believes he won the fight — most felt he’d done enough to win the fight, including myself and the DAZN commentators — but he says he wants to rematch Perez (10-0-1, 6 KO) and set things straight.

“Wasn’t my best night at all and I’m way better than that,” Ford wrote on Instagram. “If you seen the fight you know it wasn’t a draw, but respect to my opponent for the great experience. I definitely want a rematch to clean this up and show everyone I’m a better fighter than how I performed. No excuses, I know what I need to work on.”

With expanded cards on DAZN and other platforms these days, we’ve been able to see every single fight Ford has had since he turned pro just about two years ago, and the fight with Perez was easily his toughest to date.

It’s good to see a guy like Ford want to get back in with a guy like Perez, who fought his ass off and made it a really good scrap, coming in from the Albuquerque scene with no real hype and not much on his record of note. And you have to wonder, too, if Perez might simply be better than was expected.

But if Ford can get Perez again, he would certainly be more ready for him that time. He made some tactical mistakes — notably, he probably loaded up too much looking for something big, which his corner told him repeatedly — and he may have made the fight tougher than necessary. But he remains a good prospect at 126, someone to keep watching, and he’ll surely be back soon.